Although the racers are making their way down the Baja Peninsula to complete the 1061.69-mile course for the 2010 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, the finish line in La Paz is still taking shape.

The dirt bikes were the first off the line this morning at 6:30 a.m., and it is expected they will cross the finish line close to 18 hours later. SCORE expects them to come in sometime between 12 a.m. and 2 a.m. Friday morning … but the race could slow down considerably once the sun goes down.

The Trophy Trucks were the first full-sized four-wheel vehicles off the line in Ensenada at 11:30 a.m. this morning, and they are also expected to take somewhere around 18 hours to finish. They could come in anywhere from 4 to 7 a.m. tomorrow morning.

2010 Baja 1000 Finish Line Preparation

A few hours from now, the finish line will be lined with vendors, SCORE officials and the media to catch the winners … and of course SCORE President Sal Fish.

2010 Baja 1000 Finish Line Taking Shape

The finish line is about a half mile from the host hotel, the Grand Plaza. The Grand Plaza is also the location of the BFGoodrich media center, where most of us media hacks are keeping track of what’s going down in the desert.